Michelin General Establishment Company
Location: Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Full Company Name: Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA Founded: May 28th, 1889 Founders: Édouard Michelin, André Michelin Key People: Florent Menegaux (General Partner and CEO) Michel Rollier (Chairman of the Supervisory Board) Employees: 112,800 More About The Manufacturer: In 1889 two brothers, Édouard Michelin and André Michelin ran a rubber factory in Clermont-Ferrand, France. One day, a cyclist whose pneumatic tire needed repair turned up at the factory. The tire was glued to the rim, and it took over three hours to remove and repair the tire, which then needed to be left overnight to dry. The next day, Édouard Michelin took the repaired bicycle into the factory yard to test. After only a few hundred metres, the tire failed. Despite the setback, Édouard was enthusiastic about the pneumatic tire, and he and his brother worked on creating their own version, one that did not need to be glued to the rim. Michelin was incorporated on May 28th, 1889. In 1891 Michelin took out its first patent for a removable pneumatic tire which was used by Charles Terront to win the world's first long-distance cycle race, the 1891 Paris–Brest–Paris. In the 1920s and 1930s, Michelin operated large rubber plantations in Vietnam. Conditions at these plantations led to the famous labour movement Phu Rieng Do. Michelin's domination of the supply of rubber in French Indochina led to the Phu Rieng Do strike in 1930. This resulted in France investigating Michelin's treatment of workers on its rubber plantations. In 1934, Michelin introduced a tire which, if punctured, would run on a special foam lining, a design now known as a run-flat tire (self-supporting type). Michelin developed and patented a key innovation in tire history, the 1946 radial tire',' and successfully exploited this technological innovation to become one of the worlds leading tire manufacturers. The radial was initially marketed as the "X" tire. It was developed with the front-wheel-drive Citroën Traction Avant and Citroën 2CV in mind. Michelin had bought the then-bankrupt Citroën in the 1930s. Because of its superiority in handling and fuel economy, the use of this tire quickly spread throughout Europe and Asia. In the United States, the outdated bias-ply tire persisted, with a market share of 87% in 1967. In 1966, Michelin partnered with Sears to produce radial tires under the Allstate brand and was selling 1 million units annually by 1970. In 1968, Michelin opened its first North American sales office, and was able to grow that market for its products rapidly; by 1989 the company had a 10% market share for OEM tires purchased by American automobile makers. Also in 1968, Consumer Reports, an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of the radial construction, setting off a rapid decline in Michelin's competitor technology. In the U.S., the radial tire now has a market share of 100%. In addition to the private label and replacement tire market, Michelin scored an early OEM tire win in North America, when it received the contract for the 1970 Continental Mark III, the first American car with radial tires fitted as standard. In 1989, Michelin acquired the recently merged tire and rubber manufacturing divisions of the American firms B.F. Goodrich Company (founded in 1870) and Uniroyal, Inc. (founded in 1892 as the United States Rubber Company) from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Uniroyal Australia had already been bought by Bridgestone in 1980. This purchase included the Norwood, North Carolina manufacturing plant which supplied tires to the U.S. Space Shuttle Program. In December 2018, Michelin acquired Camso, a manufacturer of the off-the-road tires, tracks, and accessories for power sports, agriculture, material handling, and construction markets. Michelin also controls 90% of Taurus Tire in Hungary, as well as Kormoran, a Polish brand. As of 1 September 2008, Michelin is again the world's largest tire manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind Bridgestone. Michelin produces tire in France, Poland, Spain, Germany, the USA, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Japan, India, Italy, and several other countries. On January 15th, 2010, Michelin announced the closing of its Ota, Japan plant, which employs 380 workers and makes the Michelin X-Ice tire. Production of the X-Ice will be moved to Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Asia. In 2019, Michelin announced that plants in Germany and France are to be closed soon. Despite closing tire plants, Michelin tires are in iRacing as part of LMP1, GT1, GT3, and many other racing vehicles within the iRacing sim. Category:European Tire Manufacturers Category:French Tire Manufacturers Category:Tire Manufacturers